HAMILTON >> Michael who? Steinert’s girls basketball team will take its own Jordan any day.

Senior Jordan Jones had her career game in the Spartans’ biggest win of the Kristin Jacobs era, a 64-60 decision over Ewing that went down to the final frantic seconds.

Jones, who had a total of 13 points entering the contest, came off the bench for all 10 of her markers in the second quarter to help Steinert to a 30-27 halftime lead. She went 3-for-3 from the field and 4-for-4 from the line.

“The team’s been pushing me all season to take my open shots,” Jones said. “I’ve been a little shy about taking them but when I’m in there, I’ll take them.”

Advertisement

She did not take another the rest of the way, but grabbed seven rebounds and made the defensive play of the game.

Having knocked a 55-42 deficit down to one point, the Blue Devils took possession with 19 seconds left after Steinert missed two foul shots. MyAsia Jackson, who finished with 13 points, drove the baseline in traffic, and her shot rolled off the opposite rim. Tyquazya Davis grabbed the rebound, but as she brought it down, Jones alertly knocked the ball from her hands. Steinert’s Jayda Bing dived on the loose ball, and Ewing was called for an intentional foul.

It was a huge call as Bing made both foul shots to make it, 63-60, with 6.7 seconds remaining. Leila Collazo was then fouled on the inbounds and made one of two, putting the game out of reach with four seconds remaining.

“I thought we were going down one,” Jacobs said. “I was processing in my head how many timeouts I had and what was going to work out the best offensively. But I didn’t have to worry about that because Jordan just made a tremendous defensive play.”

And while Bing’s free throws were big, Collazo’s foul shot made it a two-possession game.

“That’s what we’ve been practicing for the past two months,” said Collazo, who had 11 points. “We did this drill called ‘make two twice’ and she just instilled it in our heads. Foul shots win games, and this was a prime example.”

While Jacobs would not admit to this being her biggest win, saying, “Every win is a big one,” it would hard to remember one with more meaning.

Steinert’s solid record (14-4) was missing one thing — a marquee victory. They led Notre Dame at halftime and went down to the wire against Allentown, but lost both. To beat the defending MCT champ, which entered at 15-2, lets the Spartans know they can defeat a good team.

“We had our winning streak stopped by Allentown, and it was a hard game,” Jones said. “I think this game is just taking it home for us. We have so much more confidence now.”

The contest started out helter-skelter with missed lay-ups and turnovers galore on both sides. But Steinert led from wire to wire, taking a 3-0 lead and never letting Ewing tie it. The Blue Devils shot just 2 of 19 in the first quarter, which coach Mike Reynolds is getting all too used to.

“Don’t get me wrong, Steinert is a tough team, a good team, but we don’t do ourselves any favors,” Reynolds said. “We missed 32 lay-ups and 10 foul shots. And it’s not just this game.

“We came out very flat in the first three minutes. We told them, ‘Don’t expect Steinert is just gonna back away from you. They’re gonna play hard, they’re gonna get in your face, and they want to play a certain way. If you’re not ready to do it, you’re gonna find yourself down.’ So we come out and we’re flat.”

Steinert took advantage and opened up a nine-point lead after three quarters. Ewing kept coming as Mya Grimes (15 rebounds) scored 12 of her 24 points in the fourth quarter. But the Spartans held on as 14 points apiece from Tatiana Dorner and Natalie Mehl gave them just enough cushion to survive.